In a provocative section of a talk at the American Physical Society meeting in Washington, DC, yesterday, theorist Matthew Strassler from Rutgers University challenged particle theorists to not be too simple in their analyses. Most people would probably not claim that theoretical particle physics is too simple, but Strassler argued that nature is likely to be […]
ILD concept detector group plan future work
Some 100 members of the International Large Detector (ILD) group gathered from 27 to 30 January 2010 in Paris, France, deep in the academic Latin Quarter area. This fourth ILD workshop was the first dedicated ILD meeting after the concept was validated in 2009 by the research directorate. Coffee break during the ILD2010 workshop in […]
From CERN: Outcome from Chamonix: Better in the long run
Last week, the Chamonix workshop once again proved its worth as a place where all the stakeholders in the LHC can come together, take difficult decisions and reach a consensus on important issues for the future of particle physics. The most important decision we reached last week is to run the LHC for 18 to […]
Successful beginning of S1 global at KEK
Four superconducting accelerating cavities have been successfully assembled at KEK’s Superconducting RF Test Facility (STF). From 14 to 22 January, the assembly team of technical staff from DESY and Fermilab visited KEK, and completed cavity-string assembly work in the STF cleanroom, making a wonderful start for S1 global, a crucial system test towards realising the International […]
After Albuquerque, Beijing
Next march, Tiger Year, a joint meeting of the Linear Collider Workshop (LCWS10) and the International Linear Collider meeting (ILC2010) will be held from 26-30 March 2010 in Beijing, China. Three years after the ILC Reference Design Report release and the preliminary cost estimate of the machine in Beijing, the whole community of accelerator and […]
From KEK: Cryomodule for “S1-global” arrived from Italy
A big Christmas gift arrived at KEK from Italy. On 25 December, KEK’s Superconducting radiofrequency Test Facility (STF) welcomed the cryomodule for “S1-global” – a crucial system test towards realizing the International Linear Collider (ILC), a proposed next generation electron-positron collider. “S1” refers to one of the priority milestones (so-called “S” milestones) for ILC R&D, […]
The ILC in 2009
Reviewing a year that is coming to an end can be a bit like time travel. While some events seem like they happened only yesterday others seem so long ago that it is hard to believe they happened only a few months ago. Here are some events and developments that were not only important this […]
From Physics Buzz: Nobu Toge: Machine Portraits
For physicist Nobu Toge, a typical day of work at the Japanese high-energy physics lab KEK might involve attending a few meetings, calibrating a just-installed piece of equipment, or writing a report on the research’s progress. But in the midst of it all, Toge might also pull out his always-ready camera and snap a photo […]
EU projects get musical
All about the AIDA project proposal
Greek mythology, cartoon characters and plays on words – projects and collaborations in high-energy physics don’t always conform to the stereotype of the incomprehensible acronym. If a new project to be submitted to the European Commission for funding, answering a call from it Seventh Framework programme (FP7), gets approval, the world of opera can be […]
From CERN: Two circulating beams bring first collisions in the LHC
Geneva, 23 November 2009. Today the LHC circulated two beams simultaneously for the first time, allowing the operators to test the synchronization of the beams and giving the experiments their first chance to look for proton-proton collisions. With just one bunch of particles circulating in each direction, the beams can be made to cross in […]